Recent Posts

Republicans have been out in force, trying to tar President Obama
with gas prices that are approaching $4 a gallon, and that appear
to be shooting for an all-time high into the driving season.

But no one has even tried to out-claim Newt Gingrich, who in his desperation claimed
that gas would miraculously plunge to $2.50 a gallon if he became
President but would hit a world-ending $10 a gallon if Obama
stayed in power.

The strategy worked: Obama’s disapproval rating on handling the
"situation with gas prices" has reached 65%, and his disapproval
rating on the economy as a whole has jumped to 59% over the
weekend from 53% in early February.

Meanwhile, oil companies worldwide and our special friends, like
Iran, are drooling over these gorgeous prices, while consumers
are getting rattled as the cost of a tank of gas is dreadfully
close or already beyond their pain threshold.

Gallup, which excels at finding irrelevant
averages to everything, has found one for the pain threshold as
well: $5.30 a gallon, the price at which people would "make
significant cutbacks" in spending in other areas. In fact, 17%
would do so with gas under $4 (now happening), and an additional
28% would do so with gas between $4 and $4.99. So 45% would cut
back significantly in other purchases before gas ever hits $5.

The White House feels the heat—and is fighting back. Already, 85%
of the people want Obama and Congress to take "immediate action"
to lower gas prices, and 65% actually believe that the government can do so.
Consequently, you can’t turn on the TV today without seeing Obama
discussing energy.

The White House also released a report that touts energy feats already
accomplished or to be accomplished, some as soon as 2025. Many of
them are laudable, such as reducing oil imports by a third by,
well, 2025—they're already down by a million barrels a day over
the last three years. Yet, in the biggest non sequitur of
mankind, given that high fuel prices sparked the report in the
first place, the report also brags about the refining sector that
has become ... a net exporter.

Turns out the place where gas prices tend to be the highest in
the nation, San Francisco....

.... is just across the Bay from five major oil refineries that
together are the largest exporters of petroleum products
in the nation (Brookings Institution, New York Times, March 8, 2012). In 2010, the
period of the report, the five refineries exported $7.8 billion
in petroleum products, an increase of 10% over prior year. Other
refineries on the West Coast have also experienced booming export
sales. Last December alone, West Coast refineries exported over
one million barrels of gasoline, eight times as much as in 2007.

The Census Bureau's trade report confirms the trend nationwide: in
January exports of petroleum products jumped 16.8% to $8.9
billion from December's $7.6 billion, and were up 8.8% from
January last year.

Why? Because that’s where the money is. Domestic demand is
stagnating. In California, based on data from the State Board of Equalization, which
collects taxes on motor fuels, gasoline sales have actually slid
14% from 2006 through last year:

People in California—and in many other places—are driving
slightly less, and their vehicles are slightly more fuel
efficient. It adds up. So we’ve got a little problem—sagging
demand—that should push gasoline prices down. But business is
business:

“Our options were to reduce production, lay off workers,
close refineries, or find markets for our products," said Tupper Hull, a vice president at the
Western States Petroleum Association. And those markets are in
Mexico, Brazil, China, and other developing countries where
demand for refined petroleum products is growing.

Oil and refined petroleum products are worldwide commodities
whose prices are determined by the markets, not Newt Gingrich. Or
President Obama. Central banks, however, are another story.
They’ve handed trillions to their cronies for the purpose of
driving up asset prices. And some of this money has hit oil. For
just how helpful this has been, read.... The Fed’s Rain Dance at the Bottom of the
Stairs.

As always, consumers pay the price, this time at the pump.
They’re already squeezed, particularly those at the lower half of
the income spectrum. And people who just finished their higher
education, the future of America, are struggling like never
before. For the whole fiasco of the costs of higher education,
and how they're mauling young people, read.... Next: Bankruptcy for a whole Generation.